Aligners for crooked teeth

We treat crooked teeth by examining you in person, measuring how much space your teeth are short of, and having a clinician approve a plan that creates that space before any crowded tooth moves into it. The trays are then made in our own laboratory, and the same team handles your reviews, any refinement and your retainers.

• Assessment: a clinician checks your teeth, gums and bite, and advises an OPG where root position matters.
• Space first: the plan decides how room is made, by gentle reshaping between teeth (IPR), arch development or both, and stages it early.
• Grip for rotations: small tooth coloured attachments are planned on turned teeth so the trays can rotate them.
• Made here: each stage is 3D printed and the trays formed on USA imported sheet, then trimmed and polished by hand.
• Checked as you go: reviews confirm every tray is seating; a lagging tooth gets refinement trays from our lab.
• Held afterwards: retainers are planned from the start, because crowded teeth are quick to drift back.

Crooked teeth are worth fixing even when they do not hurt, because overlapping teeth trap plaque that a toothbrush cannot reach, which raises the risk of gum inflammation and decay. Teeth that meet unevenly can also wear or chip at the edges over time.

Most people come to us because of how their smile looks in photographs, and that is a perfectly good reason. The health benefits come with it: straight teeth are simply easier to keep clean, and gums around well aligned teeth tend to stay healthier.

There is also a practical point about timing. Crowding usually gets slowly worse, not better, especially in the lower front teeth. A mild case treated now is a shorter, simpler plan than the same case left for ten years.

Often, yes. A single crooked or twisted tooth can frequently be corrected with a short aligner plan. The rest of the arch is still checked, because moving one tooth can affect its neighbours and the way the upper and lower teeth meet.

A tooth usually looks crooked because there is not quite enough room for it. Straightening it means making a little space, which can involve small movements of the teeth either side, so a plan for one tooth rarely moves only that tooth.

Short plans for a single tooth tend to sit toward the lower end of our price range. Your consultation tells you whether a short plan will give the result you want, or whether a fuller plan would serve you better.

Straightening crooked teeth with aligners typically takes at least six months, followed by a retainer phase of about six months. Mild crowding or a single crooked tooth can finish sooner; moderate crowding with rotations takes longer, because more trays are needed.

You move to a new tray about every week, so the number of trays in your plan is the best guide to treatment length. The plan shows that number before you start.

Most patients see the front teeth begin to straighten within the first month or two. Rotations and the final details take longer, and refinement trays may be added at the end to perfect the result.

The first month

What happens in the first month of straightening crooked teeth?

In the first month, you get used to wearing the trays 22 hours a day, feel pressure for a day or two with each new tray, and often start to see crowded front teeth beginning to move. Our video follows the first thirty days.

Attachments, if your plan needs them, are usually placed at the start. Any IPR is done at the points in the plan where space is needed, often in the early trays.

Braces are better than aligners for very severe crowding, for teeth buried in the gum that need pulling into place, and for large rotations of round teeth that aligners struggle to grip. They are also better for anyone who will not wear removable trays 22 hours a day.

We tell patients this at the examination rather than starting a plan that will struggle. Sometimes the answer is a combined plan, or treatment with an orthodontist in person. The NHS describes the same principle: the right appliance depends on an assessment of the teeth and bite (NHS on orthodontics).

For most crooked teeth, though, aligners are the more comfortable and discreet route. Our page on aligners vs braces compares the two problem by problem.

Partly. The size of your teeth and the size and shape of your jaws are largely inherited, so crowding often runs in families. Habits, the timing of milk teeth falling out and natural drift with age add to what you inherit.

This is why parents with crowded teeth often notice the same pattern in their children, and why a child with crowding is worth having checked once the adult front teeth come through. Early checks do not always mean early treatment; they mean knowing what to watch for.

Inherited crowding responds to treatment just as well as any other kind. What it does mean is that retention matters: the same tendencies that crowded the teeth in the first place will try to crowd them again.

Veneers and bonding can disguise very mild crookedness, but they do not move teeth. They change the shape of the front surface, which can make slightly uneven teeth look straighter, often at the cost of removing healthy enamel.

For real crowding, straightening the teeth first is the better choice. Teeth moved into line with aligners keep all of their enamel, and if you still want veneers or bonding afterwards, much less work is needed to get a good result.

Many cosmetic dentists now suggest exactly this order: straighten first, then decide whether any cosmetic work is still needed. Often it is not.

At your first appointment, a clinician examines your teeth, gums and bite, asks what bothers you about your smile, and tells you whether aligners suit your case. If they do, your teeth are scanned or impressions are taken so the plan can be prepared.

Bring any old orthodontic records or retainers if you have had treatment before; they show where the teeth were and help plan a relapse case quickly.

You will not be asked to commit to treatment at that visit. The next step is your digital plan and written price, and you decide after seeing both.

Crooked teeth in children are usually treated once most adult teeth are through, typically in the early teens. Younger children with mostly milk teeth may need a check for jaw growth problems, which are treated differently and are best assessed by an orthodontist in person.

Mild crowding in young children often changes as the adult teeth come in, so it is usually watched rather than treated straight away. A check around the time the adult front teeth arrive tells you whether to wait or act.

For teenagers, aligners work well when they are worn consistently. Our parents' guide to aligners for teens covers what to watch for.

With aligners for crooked teeth, you can expect the crowded or rotated teeth to line up as shown in your digital plan, provided the trays are worn about 22 hours a day and the case suits aligners. The planned finish is shown before treatment starts, so expectations are set from the beginning.

Small differences between the plan and the result are normal and are corrected with refinement trays at the end. The most common one is a rotated tooth that lags slightly behind; a few extra trays usually finish it.

What aligners do not change is the shape or colour of the teeth themselves. If a tooth is chipped or darker than its neighbours, that is a separate cosmetic question, best answered after the teeth are straight.

Yes, a little. Upper crowding is usually the more visible, so it is often what brings people in, and the upper arch has a little more room to widen. Lower crowding is often less visible but more stubborn, and the lower front teeth are the most likely to crowd again after treatment.

Many plans treat both arches together, because straightening only one can leave the bite meeting unevenly. Where only one arch needs work and the bite is healthy, a single arch plan is possible and usually shorter.

Because the lower front teeth relapse so readily, retention for the lower arch is often planned with particular care, sometimes with a thin fixed wire behind the teeth as well as a removable retainer.